Þhorn Harkv 2I
R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Þorbjǫrn hornklofi, Haraldskvæði (Hrafnsmál) 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 95.
víg ‘’
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víg (noun n.; °-s; -): battle
þóttisk ‘thought herself’
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2. þykkja (verb): seem, think
notes
[1] þóttisk ‘thought herself’: Alternatively, ‘appeared’.
val ‘The val’
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1. valr (noun m.; °dat. -i; -ir): corpse, the slain < valkyrja (noun f.): valkyrie
notes
[1] valkyrja ‘the valkyrie’: On valkyries, see Note to Eyv Hák 1/1.
kyrja ‘kyrie’
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-kyrja (noun f.): [kyries] < valkyrja (noun f.): valkyrie
notes
[1] valkyrja ‘the valkyrie’: On valkyries, see Note to Eyv Hák 1/1.
verar ‘men’
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1. verr (noun m.; °[-s; -ar/ir]): man
né ‘not’
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né (conj.): nor
óru ‘were’
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2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
þekkir ‘pleasing’
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þekkr (adj.): pleasing
feimu ‘maid’
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feima (noun f.): lass
[3] feimu: ‘suamo’ 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, ‘‑ren no[…]’ FskAˣ, 52ˣ, ‘‑fenn no[…]’ 301ˣ
notes
[3] feimu ‘maid’: I.e. ‘girl’. The readings of the FskA transcripts are best understood as corruptions of feimonni (i.e. feimunni, with the article attached). The reading supplies the necessary alliteration; it was proposed by von Friesen (1902, 62-6) and subsequently widely adopted (see Jón Helgason 1968, 15 on the paleography).
inni ‘to’
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2. inni (adv.): in, inside, indoors
leitu ‘’
fram ‘the aggressive’
notes
[3] framsóttu ‘aggressive’: Lit. ‘forward-seeking’. Cf. ModIcel. framsækinn ‘eager to advance’. That this is how the word was understood is demonstrated by the reading ‑leitu for ‑sóttu, of similar meaning, in the FskA transcripts. Some eds emend to fránleitu ‘bright-eyed’ (Fsk 1902-3, Skj B, and Skald, following Möbius 1860 and LP (1860): fránleitr; Sueti 1884, 23 has -leita).
sóttu ‘’
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sœkja (verb): seek, attack < framsóttr (adj.)
[3] ‑sóttu: ‑leitu FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ
notes
[3] framsóttu ‘aggressive’: Lit. ‘forward-seeking’. Cf. ModIcel. framsækinn ‘eager to advance’. That this is how the word was understood is demonstrated by the reading ‑leitu for ‑sóttu, of similar meaning, in the FskA transcripts. Some eds emend to fránleitu ‘bright-eyed’ (Fsk 1902-3, Skj B, and Skald, following Möbius 1860 and LP (1860): fránleitr; Sueti 1884, 23 has -leita).
es ‘who’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
notes
[4] es ‘who’: Here taken with feimu ‘maid’ (l. 3). Kershaw (1922, 83) may be right that it has causal significance here, meaning ‘for, because’. Most eds would have es directly modify valkyria ‘valkyrie’ in l. 1, yet although this has the advantage of drawing a more direct connection between vitr ‘wise’ and the valkyrie’s understanding of bird language, it makes of ll. 2-3 an intercalary clause, producing a syntactic style that is not very common in this poem (though see st. 11).
fugls ‘of the bird’
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fugl (noun m.): bird
rǫdd ‘the voice’
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rǫdd (noun f.; °raddar, dat. -/u; raddir): voice
kunni ‘understood’
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kunna (verb): know, can, be able
Kvaddi ‘greeted’
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2. kveðja (verb; kvaddi): (dd) request, address, greet
in ‘The’
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2. inn (art.): the
kverkhvíta ‘white-throated’
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kverkhvítr (adj.): [white-throated]
ok ‘and’
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3. ok (conj.): and, but; also
glæghvarma ‘’
gløggarma ‘’
in ‘the’
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2. inn (art.): the
glæ*hvarma ‘bright-eyelashed one’
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glæhvarmr (adj.): bright-eyelashed one
[6] glæ*hvarma: gløggarma 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, ‘glæghvarma’ FskAˣ, 52ˣ, 301ˣ
Hymis ‘of Hymir’
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Hymir (noun m.): Hymir
kennings
hausreyti Hymis,‘the skull-picker of Hymir, ’
= RAVEN
the skull-picker of Hymir, → RAVEN
notes
[7] hausreyti Hymis ‘the skull-picker of Hymir <giant> [RAVEN]’: Hymir is an adversary of Þórr and subject of the late eddic poem Hymiskviða (and SnE 2005, 44-5), but on what occasion a raven picked flesh from the skull of Hymir is unknown. There may be confusion with the primeval giant Ymir, from whose skull the sky was made (Vafþr 21, 28, Vsp 3, Arn Magndr 19/4II; SnE 2005, 10, 11, 12, 15, and 170 on confusion between Hymir and Ymir in mss). Kock (NN §1024) accordingly emends to Ymis here, also reversing the order of the words for the sake of the alliteration. Skj B reads -rofa ‘reaver, robber’ for ‑reyti, and Möbius (1860) reads -reyta (so 301ˣ), as if -reyti were the nom. of a weak noun.
rǫyti ‘’
røya ‘’
rꝍyta ‘’
haus ‘the skull’
kennings
hausreyti Hymis,‘the skull-picker of Hymir, ’
= RAVEN
the skull-picker of Hymir, → RAVEN
notes
[7] hausreyti Hymis ‘the skull-picker of Hymir <giant> [RAVEN]’: Hymir is an adversary of Þórr and subject of the late eddic poem Hymiskviða (and SnE 2005, 44-5), but on what occasion a raven picked flesh from the skull of Hymir is unknown. There may be confusion with the primeval giant Ymir, from whose skull the sky was made (Vafþr 21, 28, Vsp 3, Arn Magndr 19/4II; SnE 2005, 10, 11, 12, 15, and 170 on confusion between Hymir and Ymir in mss). Kock (NN §1024) accordingly emends to Ymis here, also reversing the order of the words for the sake of the alliteration. Skj B reads -rofa ‘reaver, robber’ for ‑reyti, and Möbius (1860) reads -reyta (so 301ˣ), as if -reyti were the nom. of a weak noun.
reyti ‘picker’
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reytir (noun m.): [picker] < hausreytir (noun m.)
[7] ‑reyti: so FskAˣ, 52ˣ, ‘rꝍya’ 51ˣ, FskBˣ, ‘ro᷎yti’ corrected from ‘ro᷎ya’ 302ˣ, ‘‑rꝍyta’ 301ˣ
kennings
hausreyti Hymis,‘the skull-picker of Hymir, ’
= RAVEN
the skull-picker of Hymir, → RAVEN
notes
[7] hausreyti Hymis ‘the skull-picker of Hymir <giant> [RAVEN]’: Hymir is an adversary of Þórr and subject of the late eddic poem Hymiskviða (and SnE 2005, 44-5), but on what occasion a raven picked flesh from the skull of Hymir is unknown. There may be confusion with the primeval giant Ymir, from whose skull the sky was made (Vafþr 21, 28, Vsp 3, Arn Magndr 19/4II; SnE 2005, 10, 11, 12, 15, and 170 on confusion between Hymir and Ymir in mss). Kock (NN §1024) accordingly emends to Ymis here, also reversing the order of the words for the sake of the alliteration. Skj B reads -rofa ‘reaver, robber’ for ‑reyti, and Möbius (1860) reads -reyta (so 301ˣ), as if -reyti were the nom. of a weak noun.
es ‘which’
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2. er (conj.): who, which, when
sat ‘sat’
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sitja (verb): sit
bǫrmum ‘’
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barmr (noun m.; °dat. -i; *-um): rim
hǫrmum ‘’
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1. harmr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): sorrow, grief
á ‘on’
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3. á (prep.): on, at
vin ‘field’
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1. vin (noun f.): meadow < Vinbjǫrg (noun n.)
horni ‘the edge’
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horn (noun n.; °-s; -): horn
[8] horni of: horni vin‑ 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, ‘hormum’ FskAˣ, 52ˣ, ‘bormum’ 301ˣ
of ‘of’
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3. of (prep.): around, from; too
[8] horni of: horni vin‑ 51ˣ, FskBˣ, 302ˣ, ‘hormum’ FskAˣ, 52ˣ, ‘bormum’ 301ˣ
notes
[8] of bjarga ‘of a cliff’: In the pl., bjarg ‘rock’ is used in a collective sense to mean ‘precipice, cliff’: see CVC: bjarg. Here it is gen. pl., hence á horni bjarga ‘on the edge of a cliff’. The next syllable is problematic. (a) The FskA transcripts read ‘-um’, which is here taken as the expletive particle, normalised to the more archaic of; this appears before nouns, though more commonly before verbs (LP: of C). All the ms. readings, ‘horni vin-’, ‘hormum’ and ‘bormum’, are readily understood as due to copyists’ misdivisions of the minims of horni um. The form ‘hormum’ is presumably for hǫmrum ‘crags’, the reading adopted by Wisén (1870, 49), following LP (1860): hausreyti. (b) Previous eds, following the FskB transcripts, generally read vinbjarga, which LP: vinbjǫrg defines as klipper ved (omgivende) eng(e) ‘rocks with (surrounding) field(s)’. The first constituent of the cpd would then be vin f. ‘meadow’, a word common in Norwegian place names (see Jón Helgason 1946, 134-5). Kershaw (1922, 83) adopts the vin- reading, but it is not represented in her translation, ‘as he sat on a jutting ledge of rock’; similarly Magerøy (1963, 82): som sat høgt på eit berg. Von Friesen (1902, 66-9; so Noreen 1926, 163) would emend to vindbjarga ‘wind-rocks’, which he interprets as a kenning for ‘clouds’.
bjarga ‘a cliff’
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bjarg (noun n.; °-s; *-): mountain, cliff < Vinbjǫrg (noun n.)
notes
[8] of bjarga ‘of a cliff’: In the pl., bjarg ‘rock’ is used in a collective sense to mean ‘precipice, cliff’: see CVC: bjarg. Here it is gen. pl., hence á horni bjarga ‘on the edge of a cliff’. The next syllable is problematic. (a) The FskA transcripts read ‘-um’, which is here taken as the expletive particle, normalised to the more archaic of; this appears before nouns, though more commonly before verbs (LP: of C). All the ms. readings, ‘horni vin-’, ‘hormum’ and ‘bormum’, are readily understood as due to copyists’ misdivisions of the minims of horni um. The form ‘hormum’ is presumably for hǫmrum ‘crags’, the reading adopted by Wisén (1870, 49), following LP (1860): hausreyti. (b) Previous eds, following the FskB transcripts, generally read vinbjarga, which LP: vinbjǫrg defines as klipper ved (omgivende) eng(e) ‘rocks with (surrounding) field(s)’. The first constituent of the cpd would then be vin f. ‘meadow’, a word common in Norwegian place names (see Jón Helgason 1946, 134-5). Kershaw (1922, 83) adopts the vin- reading, but it is not represented in her translation, ‘as he sat on a jutting ledge of rock’; similarly Magerøy (1963, 82): som sat høgt på eit berg. Von Friesen (1902, 66-9; so Noreen 1926, 163) would emend to vindbjarga ‘wind-rocks’, which he interprets as a kenning for ‘clouds’.
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As for st. 1.
[5-6]: To rectify the faulty alliteration, Fsk 1847 and Munch and Unger (1847, 112), followed by Wisén (1870, 49), Fsk 1902-3 and Lindquist (1929, 2), reverse the order of kverkhvíta and glæhvarma. Note that glæ- in the latter word is emended from ‘glæg’- in the FskA transcripts, and Möbius (1860) and Wisén (1870, 49) read gløgg- ‘sagacious’.
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